This is the UK400 Club Rare Bird Alert highlighting all records of avian interest and published in association with Rare Bird Alert Pagers and utilising additional information gleaned from the Regional Birdlines, BirdGuides, local email groups and individual observers

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Saturday, 17 September 2011

The Isles of Scilly has been at the forefront of British Birding for a very long time and today showed glimmers of previous golden days...........

A succession of deep Atlantic lows has really been reaping rewards over the past week or so, with waders being the major talking point, particularly Buff-breasted Sandpipers in bumper numbers - and Sabine's Gulls in record numbers

Today however, St Mary's played host to both a NORTHERN WATERTHRUSH and first-winter female BLACK-AND-WHITE WARBLER in Lower Moors - the latter showing well on occasions in trees and bushes at the Airport Lane end of the Trail. The waterthrush was seen prior to 0700 hours and late yesterday evening in front of the Bird Club hide and was later relocated this afternoon not far away from the warbler. Both arrivals follow on from Scilly's earliest-ever RED-EYED VIREO - on the Garrison and Sallyport on Tuesday-Thursday of last week

A juvenile SOLITARY SANDPIPER continues to show down to just ten feet on Newford Duckpond, with two PECTORAL SANDPIPERS at Lower Moors and at least 4 of the recent 8 juvenile BUFF-BREASTED SANDPIPERS on the Airfield. Long-stayers include the mobile EUROPEAN BEE-EATER and the juvenile WOODCHAT SHRIKE near the airfield.

With such quality birds so early and the predictions of more hurricanes and tropical storms to follow the same track, this sets to be a hugely eventful autumn. Yellow-bellied Sapsucker and Common Nighthawk must be on the cards !

About Me

I have been birding since 1969 but became obsessed with 'twitching' in 1974 and haven't looked back since. Have driven over 1.3 million miles in pursuit of rare birds in the UK, where to date I have recorded 588 species in Britain and Ireland. I also have a fascination for the Birds of the Western Palearctic, where I have currently recorded 880 of the 1,064 species ever recorded. I am widely travelled in North America, as well as in Africa and Asia, and have written at least 29 books on my chosen subject, including best-sellers ''Ultimate Site Guide to Scarcer British Birds' and 'Rare Birds in Britain 1800-1990'. Established the UK400 Club in 1981 to cater for the most obsessive of the British birding fraternity and now concentrate on online publishing, via the www.uk400clubonline.co.uk website. Record Birding achievements include recording 386 species in Britain & Ireland in 1996 and 627+ in the Western Palearctic in 2008